The Island of Capri and the BEST Pizza (Day 12 - Naples, Italy, Part 1)

I realized after yesterday's post went live that my title might have been a bit confusing.  "Our Final Day at Sea" did not mean we were getting off the ship.  It was a full day at sea with no port of call.  We still had two more nights on the ship.

Naples was another repeat port.  In 2011 we saw Pompeii in the morning and Herculaneum in the afternoon.  This time we only booked a boat trip to the Island of Capri which we would explore on our own.  This was another great decision.

We left our ship, walked around the harbor with our guide, Rosario, and boarded a ferry to the island.  On the walk to the ferry we were mobbed by taxi drivers and tour guides.  A simple "no" wasn't enough to get them to back off, but when I pointed at the number on my top, they knew I'd already paid for an excursion and they moved on to someone else.

I would love to say that our ferry ride was uneventful, but unfortunately a little boy a few rows behind us lost his breakfast.  Poor guy!  The ride was a bit bumpy and I was very glad that I had taken Dramamine.  His mom handled it well and said the first stop would be new clothes.  I said, "If you had a girl, I'd think she'd planned that!"

We gathered in the Marina Grande and Rosario did his best to up-sell us to another boat ride.  This would have taken us to the Blue Grotto.  We opted out and bought tickets to the Funicolare (incline train) which took us up to the city of Capri.

We spent several hours just wandering this beautiful island.  I do not exaggerate when I say it is beautiful!

There were lots of neat little shops.

But the views were spectacular!

Much like Santorini, the streets were full of shops and restaurants.  The Car Shoe store was pretty neat, patented in 1963, just like the love of my life!

This might be the only slight regret I have of our trip.  We walked by this particular shop with brightly colored dresses and tops.  There was a sale rack outside with items for 20 Euros.  I didn't buy anything at the time.  Later I thought if we passed by again that I would take a closer look.  Unfortunately, we never saw that store again!

We continued walking, talking, and taking pictures.  I'm pretty sure there are more pictures of us (especially me) taken on this day than any other.  We had a lot of fun exploring at a relaxing pace!

We followed the road up to the Augustus Gardens.

Get ready for the amazing views!  (And to see more, go to my Shutterfly account HERE!)

We spent a lot of time in the gardens just watching the boats below and staring at the view!

We noticed this switchback path that led from the gardens to the marina.  This is called Via Krupp.

Via Krupp is a historic switchback paved footpath on the island of Capri, connecting the Charterhouse of San Giacomo and the Gardens of Augustus area with Marina Piccola. Commissioned by German industrialist Friedrich Alfred Krupp, the path covers an elevation difference of about 320 feet. Built between 1900 and 1902, ostensibly Via Krupp was a connection for Krupp between his luxury hotel, Grand Hotel Quisisana, and Marina Piccola, where his marine biology research vessel lay at anchor. Secretly however, this path also conveyed him to Grotta di Fra Felice a grotto where sex orgies with local youths are supposed to have taken place. When the scandal surfaced, Krupp was asked to leave Italy in 1902.  Since 1976, Via Krupp has been closed most of the time due to the danger of falling rocks.  (Sorry, I know I said no more history lessons!)

Charterhouse of San Giacomo

These beautiful flowers were not in the Augustus Gardens, they surrounded the doorway of a store.

More views of the island.

All this beautiful scenery had made us hungry!  We walked back to the center of town and found a little cafe.

We didn't realize the word "bar" was part of its name....

I was happy since they brought us olives!

And this amazing pizza!  Les said, "Best pizza ever!  No joke!"

There was still another part of the island we had yet to see - the comune of Anacapri.  Not to be confused with the word commune, a comune is a basic administrative division in Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality.  The elevation of Capri is about 500 feet, the elevation of Anacapri is about 900 feet.  That meant a crowded, crazy bus ride up a windy, narrow road!

When we arrived in Anacapri our plan was to take the chairlift to Mount Solaro which has an elevation of about 1900 feet.  This was our only major mistake of our trip.  We got off the bus in the city center when we needed to stay on until the next stop.  We couldn't find our way to the chairlift but we did find gelato so all was not lost!  We knew we needed to get back to Marina Grande by 3:30 so we got in line for the bus back to Capri.  And waited and waited... in the hot sun with lots of other travelers.  A bus came by but it was completely full and no one got on or off.  There was a taxi stand that had a long line as well.  As we were trying to decide what to do a man yelled out, "Anyone want to share a taxi?"  I stayed in line while Les talked to him.  We split the cost and rode in this open air taxi.  So basically we had the most expensive gelato ever!

We made it back to Capri and got in line for the Funicolare again.  While we waited, Les took a few more pictures.  Mount Vesuvius across the Gulf of Naples.

This was a perfect final port of call!